Shun Breaking News, Sensationalism, INEC Tells Journalists

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has charged media houses in the country to shun breaking news, sensational headlines, tilting of stories so as not to heat up the polity.

INEC’s national commissioner and chairman of Information and Voter Education, Barr Festus Okoye, made the call at a one-day workshop organised by the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on conflict sensitive reporting and the 2023 general elections.

Represented by the commission’s deputy director of publicity, Mrs Chinwe Ogbuka, Okoye said some mainstream media houses had gravitated towards online journalism with the attendant quest for breaking news and in the process, the information is sometimes unverified.

He listed sensational headlines, deliberate falsehood to drive traffic and tilting reports towards religious, zonal and ethnic narratives as other negatives that affect their activities.

The national president of NUJ, Mr Chris Ishiguzo, lamented that many journalists during the discharge of their duties had died, sustained various degrees of injury, and had their equipment damaged, especially during election periods.

Ishiguzo said, “It is a matter of regret and concern, that in the course of their work over the years, many journalists have either lost their lives or had sustained various degrees of injuries or had their equipment damaged especially during election times. Nothing or little is done to ensure accountability for attacks on journalists and the media in Nigeria, thus the culture of impunity for such attacks persists. It is important for stakeholders to work towards minimising these.”

He maintained that media professionals cannot operate when “there is fear in the discharge of their work. It is therefore important that the issue of safety and security be given the needed attention by Government and other Stakeholders. Without doubt, the safety of Journalists is absolutely essential in the pursuit of the Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all citizens as well as the right to development”.

Other INEC officials presented papers which drew several journalists in the state.